ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet approved the treaty on swapping prisoners with England, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan took the cabinet into confidence over his recent visit to China and described it as “more successful than expected” and that the host country has “assured every kind of assistance to Pakistan”.

The minister, while briefing the media about the cabinet decisions, said the prime minister’s China visit was highly successful as several agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed between the two countries.

He said that following this visit Pakistan would be able to handle balance of payments issue.

The prime minister briefed the cabinet members about his visit to China and the agreements and memorandum of understandings signed between the two countries.

Giving details of the decisions of the cabinet, Fawad said that the cabinet approved revamping of the Evacuees Trust Property Board to improve its functioning and better utilisation of its properties.

He said that Ahmed Nawaz Sukhera had been appointed Secretary Investment Board, while the cabinet sanctioned issuance of license of Liberty Airlines.

He said a new board of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan would be constituted.

Fawad said that the cabinet decided that a committee comprising experts would be constituted to formulate policy on taxation to fulfill the longstanding demand of the business community.

He said the cabinet approved the appointment of Riaz Memon as new chairman of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

The cabinet also approved treaties pertaining to the exchange of prisoners with England, he said.

Replying to media questions he said that the opposition wanted that the government should not pursue corruption cases against its leaders, but no such concession would be given to them.

He said it was unfortunate that in the past, government and opposition had collusion and they looted and plundered the country turn by turn.

On the issue of the appointment of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, he said the deadlock still persists as the PML-N demand to appoint Shehbaz Sharif its head to hold audit of the tenure of his brother Nawaz Sharif was illogical.

He said the PTI had the stance that for the audit of the projects of Sharif’s tenure, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf member should be made the chairman, and for the projects initiated by the PTI, Shehbaz could be named as its head.

The minister a review petition was pending in the Supreme Court in the Aasia Bibi case and the apex court is the competent authority to take a decision on this legal and constitutional matter.

About the change in the National Accountability Bureau laws, he said a task force was working under Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem and it would soon present its proposals.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that China has barred the government from disclosing the amount of financial assistance given in the aid package owing to the concerns from Beijing’s regional partners, Express News reported.

When asked during a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party meeting in Islamabad on Thursday, the premier said that China has given an aid package like never before, adding that, Beijing does not want the exact figure of the aid to be disclosed.

Talking about the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP)-led protests against the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, the prime minister said the government had to tread the issue carefully because of the sensitivity of the matter.

He added that the protesters had been paid to take part in the sit-ins.

The prime minister went on to say that if the protests had not ended, it would have left the country ungovernable.

Imran said that after coming into power, he has come to know of the scale of corruption committed under the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tenure.

Now the media reports of their corruption pale in comparison to the actual figures, he added.

The government, the premier said, would not allow plunderers of the public wealth to be spared.

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Reader Comments (6)

Imran Khan did everything required to become acceptable to the institution that appoints the PM of Pakistan. He brought in electable candidates whom he was criticizing as corrupt. He may not be greedy for money but will do anything and everything required to remain as PM of Pakistan and knows that he can remain PM only as long as he keeps the powerful institution happy. That powerful institution is afraid of India and thinks giving way Pakistan itself to China will give them military protection from China. It is the same old mindset we saw in “Strategic Depth” ad bringing in islamic terrorists from all over the world to Pakistan, hoping that they will snatch Kashmir from India and give it to Pakistan. We saw how it backfired resulting in APS attacks. Imran Khan makes frequent U-Turns because he has to keep those who appointed him happy.
Now we will see canals and irrigation systems being built under CPEC to divert water from other farms to Chinese owned farms in Pakistan. Yes, China will acquire fertile agricultural lands in Pakistan and all produce from these farms will be taken straight to China to feed the Chinese. Pakistani farmers will perish and Pakistanis will starve. Is it not already happening in the deep waters off Gwadar and Karachi. Huge Chinese fishing trawlers are fishing there and taking the entire catch to China and they don’t pay a penny to Pakistan.Recommend

Hmm, Pakistan hides details of CPAC deal from public scrutiny!
Now Pakistan claims that China wants details of aid package to be secret!
Wonder how many secret (Offshore?) bank accounts are involved?Recommend

@Raj – USA: who feed you all those information, cia or Indian intelligence. It was pretty detailed, but will these organizations divulge their prized information to an individual; or cooked up in fertile brain.Recommend

In a recent high profile case, a dozen or so Pakistani-origin men have been convicted for underage sex trade in UK. There were calls of rescinding their British nationality and deporting them to their country of origin. It was only possible if Pakistan had a prisoner swap treaty with UK – which is happening now. So Pakistan should expect droves of Pakistani origin British criminals being deported to Pakistan. Recommend